Sonic The Hedgehog: A Christmas Carol
by SilverEagleX
Summary: Will Shadow learn to let go of his painful past that is holding him back from Christmas? Or will he be forced to face the consequences that will haunt him forever more? WILL CONTINUE IN OWN TIME, EVEN THOUGH IT'S AFTER CHRISTMAS BECAUSE IM SO BORED.
1. Chapter 1:- The Beginning

**First story on , Awesome! Please try and read, this is a test run if you like, I started something else ages ago, and I mean, "Ages", ago, which still isn't finished, and is/will be massive! Can't really say when it will first be up though, but still, suspense! Anyway, just in time for Christmas, (I hope so anyway), I give you one of the most well known Christmas stories, mixed with Sonic the hedgehog, but it's got some kind of a twist, not word for word same as Dickens' version, it's more like, "In-the-normal-Sonic-the-Hedgehog-Universe-with-the-Christmas-Carol-events-taking-place", kind of twist. Hope you enjoy the, "Experimental run", for this whole, "First Fan-fiction", thing, and please review, I just want to know what it feels like when someone does. Thanks!**

**P.S. It's pretty obvious to tell which characters have which roles. (Sometimes)**

**Chapter 1:- The Beginning **

Shadow hated Christmas.

Surely that was obvious?

No?

Well, if it's not, I guess you can't just sit here wondering why he does, but listen to me, droning on about pointless stuff like that, when I should be telling you the real story.

Anyways, no-one bothered to try and reason with Shadow about his view on Christmas. In fact, no-one even bothered to even talk to him around the Christmas season. They knew it would either bring them a full frontal punch to the face, or a Chaos Spear that chased them about 3 miles down the icy street. Either way suited Shadow fine. As long as they left him alone afterwards.

Christmas had always been a particular soft spot for Shadow. It was around this time 50 years ago, that Maria had died, and that he had been kept in containment for all those years. It was a painful memory, and Shadow wouldn't give a damn if Christmas was stopped all together. The chances of him celebrating it were about the same as Rouge giving up diamonds and jewels forever, and if anyone ever tried to forcibly invite him, or throw a party for him, well, Vectors _still _remaining black eye from last year can vouch for that.

As a matter of fact, this Christmas marked 7 years, (ish), since Shadow had been first awakened from his artificially induced slumber. The same amount of time it had technically been for Shadow since Maria had died.

As he did(n't) every Christmas, Shadow didn't take into account others people's feelings for the festive season, and didn't care if they wanted to celebrate or not. This year, Shadow had decided to make it pass quickly by creating a special empowering machine for his own gain that would increase his own powers in Chaos Control. Tails had volunteered to help Shadow build it since the 1st of December, but had not taken into account that Shadow would not let him stop working easily.

"Come _on_ Shadow, it's Christmas eve, and it's 6PM!", Tails exclaimed, pointing to the clock, which on que, had struck with a loud and notifying clang.

"Do I look like I care?", replied Shadow, not turning his gaze away from a bolt he was tightening.

"You should", said tails moderately annoyed, "It's Christmas, and I'm Ray's carer, ever since Mighty went missing, and whether you like it or not, it's my job to look after him, and spend Christmas with him, my friends, _and_ myfamily, even if _you_ don't want to". Tails moved over to the warehouse door, taking off his work gloves and facemask for when he was using the blowtorch, and reached for his scarf.

Suddenly, a spanner flew through the air and hit the wooden wall millimetres from where tails' hand would have been. It splintered with a shrieking crack, and tails flinched terribly. He didn't bother looking back at Shadow; he just slowly put his equipment back on, and resumed his work with the blowtorch.

All of a sudden, the door of the relatively small warehouse burst open, giving entry to a great gust of wind, (which caused Shadow and Tails to shield their eyes), and Sonic, wearing a green and red striped scarf, blue earmuffs, a small bag hung over his shoulder, and a holly reef with a red bow in it in his left hand. "_In a one horse open sleeeIIIIGHHHHHH_!", he finished singing, sliding to a halt, the door slamming behind him. Tails smiled to see his friend and lifted his mask up, Shadow just grunted, and changed his tool to a drill.

"How's it going bud?", Sonic asked, pulling his earmuffs down so that they were around his neck, "I got you a gift! I figured you could open it early if you like!". Sonic reached into his bag, and pulled out a small square box wrapped in red, sparkly wrapping paper. "Wow! Thanks Sonic!", replied Tails excitedly, putting it to one side, "I'll have to open it later though", he sighed, "Anyway", he continued, "What are you doing here?". "Well", started Sonic, "I _was_ going to invite you to some last minute celebrations, and to the feast at my house tomorrow with ray, but", he was cut off by Tails silently signalling at Shadow, who was still drilling. Tails leaned in and whispered, "I might be able to make it tonight if it's at my house, but I can't come tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to come, but I won't be able to make it back in time to start the work in time, your house is too far away, and Shadow will go nuts if I keep him waiting!". Sonic frowned, "Thought so", he sighed, then walked over to Shadow. "Hey Shad", Sonic said. Shadow's eyes darted in his direction. "I brought you a present too!", he said happily, holding out the holly reef. Sonic had been through this with Shadow long enough to know that Tails was standing behind him, frantically giving him, "The ixnay, on the exnay", kind of signal, but he had to try one last time.

Shadow swung round on his stool and took the holly reef. He held it at his height, (When he was sitting down), and the green chaos light engulfed it with a great, "Whooshing", sound. When the light dimmed completely, Shadow was left holding what looked like a donut that had been left in the oven too long. He moved it the one side, and sprinkled the remains onto the floor, then turned around, and continued his work on the machine, "Christmas", he grumbled, then gave a small snort of laughter, "What a pathetic waste of time".

"Oh come on Shadow, don't be angry!", cried Sonic picking up the slightly charred bow from the remains of the reef, "My kids made that for ya!". Shadow just grunted, then turned around again. "Tell you what", Shadow said, "I'll let you celebrate Christmas your own way, and in return, you leave _me_ alone". He put unpleasant emphasis on the word Christmas. "As if", replied Sonic, rubbing his index finger under his nose, "Come on! Celebrate at my house tomorrow, me, sal and the kids just moved, would love you to come, there'll be lots of food, and everyone will be there! What do ya say?", he finished, holding out his hand. "I say", Shadow started, turning round again, "Get the hell out of here"; he finished, pointing to the door. Sonic frowned again. "Shadow, it's been seven _years_ since you found out your past, I thought you were over Maria! I thought you understood! Why is Christmas so difficult for you-", he was cut off. Shadow had risen to his full height instantly, the drill inched away from his face, spinning with a small whirr.

"Ooooooh", said Sonic coolly, his arms folded. He hadn't flinched when Shadow had reacted, and hadn't become even more worried when he heard Tails dive for cover. "I think you might be over-reacting Shadow", he said, pushing the drill slowly to one side with 2 of his fingers, "But if you can't accept the joy and happiness of Christmas...", he stopped, then continued, "Well, I'm not gonna stop ya", he turned and slowly made towards the door. "Make sure your there tonight Tails", said Sonic as he passed him, "I don't want to be left outside for half an hour like last year!". Tails promised that he would, then began work again. Shadow had lost interest after Sonic had pushed the drill away, and just grunted. Sonic yanked the spanner out of the wall with difficulty before throwing it to Shadow, "Again? Man, you need help!", said Sonic, before the door flung open once again welcoming the wind. "Merry Christmas to all!", he shouted, to no-one in particular, and bolting out of sight, the door once again slamming behind him. The force of the door caused the winter gear hanging from the pegs to fall off; revealing about 50 of Shadows home-made, "Spanner-Holes".


	2. Chapter 2:- Return of a Friend

**I like the look of how this is going, I'm enjoying it! Anyway it will probably be up before Christmas, probably way before it, but, I'm looking forward to it all being up all the same. Speaking of which, can anyone guess who Marley's ghost is? I'll give you a clue; technically, it's not Marley's ghost. I think I've made it pretty obvious, but hey, that's just me.**

**Also, I've decided on the ghosts of Christmas, except the ghost of Christmas present. I'm a bit stuck for choice between 2 characters. Leave what you think in the review, and also, I really want to say this before we go on with the story, I realised that I was turning in to one of those people who went on **_**every**_** chapter about asking for reviews, I really don't want to make a bad first impression, so I'm sorry if it felt like I was bugging you for it, and you were all like, "Oh here we go again, another attention-seeker", totally not the case, really sorry, it's totally your choice what you do and don't do when you read these things, so I'll leave it alone from now on. But yeah, soooooo. **

**Read if you want, and look forward to Christmas! (Oh and by the way, when this chapter changes to Shadows point of view, it gets a little more Sinister (Which probably wasn't a good idea because I write these things between 4 and 9PM XD)) Also, Longest Chapter! Mind you it is only the second Chapter, but who cares!? I'm proud of myself!**

**Also, Chapter name really only applies to last little bit, Sorry for any inconvenience caused!, couldn't think of a better chapter name, got a better idea? Leave (If you want! ^) a better name and I'll change it!**

**Finally, Thanks for reading this all those people out there, really appreciated!**

**(Long authors note, sorry!, had to get it all across before we went any further!, XD)**

**Chapter 2:- Return of a Friend**

"Dong!".

The clock struck seven at last after what felt like hours.

Shadow and Tails looked up, their expressions were quite the opposite. Tails wore a face of pure delight and joy, while Shadow just groaned and looked as if he had been told he'd been given twice as much to do in one day.

Tails turned to Shadow, and his expression changed suddenly. Shadow sat in his stool with not anger on his face, no, but disappointment. Pure, utter, and full frontal disappointment. But with what? Not Tails surely?

Tails slowly rose from his chair, not taking his eyes off Shadow. "So you'll be off all day tomorrow?", Shadow voice said. His head was buried on the table in front of him. Was he tired? He couldn't have been, he was the ultimate life form, he didn't get, "Tired".

Tails swallowed, he was terrified of Shadow's quick temper these days, it escalated far too quickly. "Well...er...um...Yeah, I was planning too, why?", he asked Shadow, he had meant the Why part as a joke, but he never actually anticipated that Shadow would answer.

"Just wondering how much I'd have to do on my own tomorrow", he said getting up, glaring at Tails, and walked over to the door. Tails expected to have guilt flow through him, but then he remembered, he'd wanted to leave since day 2, ever since Shadow went mental with the blowtorch when Tails had told him he was late because of the opening of the advent calendar with Ray. Tails shuddered at the memory, then ran to open the door for Shadow.

"I don't care what you're doing tomorrow, just make sure that you're here twice as early on Boxing day", Shadow grumbled putting on his jet-black jacket, "If we carry on our current path, we should be finished by...", he looked back at the unfinished machinery, "New years eve I think, not that I care", he muttered at the last part.

"Whatever you say Shadow", groaned Tails rolling his eyes. Tails unlatched the door, and it opened with a creak, the wind had certainly died down since Sonic had arrived an hour earlier, but it was still bitterly cold, and was snowing calmly, the snowflakes swaying slightly in the air. Shadow shivered, and then muttered something under his breath, something about thermal insulating as far as Tails could make out, then he put his hands in his jacket pockets, and stepped out of the door. Tails followed suit, and shut the door behind him.

Tails locked the door, and gave it a solid thud to make sure it was properly shut. He turned to Shadow, who had one hand out of his pocket holding out in front of him, palm facing up. His body was half facing away, and his eyes were open as they always were, apparently oblivious to the montage of falling snow.

Tails put the keys the keys in his palm, and Shadow took his hand away somewhat aggressively. He looked at Tails for a second before, putting his hand back in his pocket, turned away slowly, and started walking down the street.

Tails watched intently until the fog had enveloped Shadow's figure. It had disappeared. A grin crawled its way onto Tails' face. He tightened his scarf, then turned around, and flew the opposite way to Shadow. His feet skimming the ground, and his tails kicked up snow like a reverse snowplough.

He made his way to the end of the street, and screeched to a halt. Old ally way had become completely encased in ice. Most of the people Tails knew slid down it, putting all of their strength into not falling over. Espio and Vector were at the bottom of the slope on the pavement, Espio cheering them on, and encouraging those too scared to ride, and Vector was taking pictures of each person who went down, trying to sell each photo for 5 bucks, (Which to his dismay, didn't work very well).

"Espio! Vec!", Tails called up from the top of the street. Espio and Vector looked up, smiled, and cheered for Tails to go down. All the others at the top waiting to go dared him to as well. Tails hesitated, then smiled, and nodded. A roar of approval came from the crowd. Tails took a few steps back, and made a run up. He jumped when he reached it and landed on the icy slope, his momentum carried him down extremely fast, and his propeller tails made him go even faster, he whooshed past the line of kids, going so fast he blew some of their hats off. He made it to the bottom, and grabbed hold of the lamppost to his right, spinning round, lifting him off the ice. Espio quickly jumped out of the way, and left Vector as the target.

As for what happened next, well, let's just say that Vectors black eye won't be going down anytime soon.

**(Shadow Time!)**

Shadow heard the roar of laughter and happiness from half a mile away. He grumbled and continued on his way. "Christmas", he said to himself quietly, "What is the point!". He looked all around him. The snow was still falling. He breathed heavily; the mist from his breath formed, then disappeared just as quickly.

He turned a corner at the end of the street. He was now in the most deserted part of the city. It was amazing how the setting had changed in the last few seconds, but Shadow didn't care, frankly, he couldn't be _bothered_ to care _or_ notice. But whereas the past street had been lined and pasted with festive decorations. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was darker than the rest of the city, with clouds constantly looming over it, the only light it received, a few small street lamps dating back to god knows when, flickering slightly, already dim from age.

A sign held by one nail creaked in what remained of the wind. "Carol Street", it read, almost unreadable through its grime and filth. Shadow trudged through the street that outlined the border of the city. He pushed his hands further into his pockets and kept going. Emerging from the mist, a large black, rusting gate appeared. Shadow threw it open, then shut it with a clang. The echo vibrated around the eerily quiet street multiple times. Shadow hesitated, then turned and walked up the path to the mansion. But something..._Bothered_, him. He had walked up and down this pathway and street for 3 years now, and he had lived in the mansion for the same amount of time, the mansion that appeared to be older than time itself, let alone the fact that it looked haunted. But not once had he ever been disturbed by the trip until tonight. The question was...Why?

Shadow made his way to the front door and stepped onto the porch. He took the keys out of his pocket, and started fumbling with them to find the key that would fit the 7 foot high door.

"Shadow..."

Shadow perked up, he looked over his shoulder. Nothing there. He shrugged, and continued to look for the key.

"Shadow..."

Shadow swung around and looked frantically over the porch and front walkway. Still nothing. Shadow swallowed, but didn't turn around. At last he found the key, but then, he froze.

"_Shaaaaaaadoooooow..._", the voice was female, young, and was a sinister whisper...

Right. Beside. His, ear.

Shadow, shaking unnoticeably but uncontrollably, turned around slowly.

Nothing.

He exhaled slowly, put the key in the lock, and turned. Once the door was open, he slammed the door hard. Once again, the echo vibrated around, the foyer more sinister than usual. He flicked the light switch.

"Click". No light.

"Click". Still no light.

"Great", Shadow growled, "Just what I needed".

Power-cuts weren't unusual in this part of the city, but why now of all times? Why when Shadow wanted light the most?

He fumbled his way along the wall until he hit the banister. He began making his way up the long flight of stairs, each stair creaking under his weight. He shivered, not with fear, but with coldness. He could see the mist of his breath in front of him when he breathed out, which, (Unfortunately for Shadow), was the only thing he _could_ see in front of him.

A large crash came from the basement. Shadow, alarmed, looked in (What he thought was) the direction of the basement door.

Silence.

"Just one of the crates", he said to himself quietly, "Just one of the crates". But he couldn't shake the feeling that it probably wasn't.

After what felt like hours, Shadow finally made it to the top of the stairs. He made a dash for his room, unlatched the door, threw himself inside, and locked the door on all of its locks. He then locked his window on the far side of the room, pulling the blind down as well. He then hastily made his way to the storage room, which was connected to his room, and locked that fully as well.

Completely locked in.

Shadow breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly moved over to the fireplace, took the box of matches, and struck one, lighting as many candles as he could find, as well as the fireplace.

Sweet, jovial light filled the room, and Shadow slumped into his chair that sat next to the fireplace. He warmed himself up for a bit, before taking off and hanging up his jacket. He sat back down next to the fire. He felt...tired. Or at least that's how he thought he felt. He hardly ever slept since he didn't need sleep, it was a rare thing for him to do. Another reason why he didn't care how long him and Tails worked for.

He sat by the fire for hours, thinking, he knew that voice from somewhere, but where? He forced himself not to think about it anymore, for his experience had made him uncomfortable. His eyes drifted towards the cupboard opposite the fireplace. He stood up, and wandered over to it. He opened both doors. Hardly anything in there except from a spare pair of his iconic hover shoes, a tattered pair of gloves from long ago, and a dressing gown, and night-cap. He looked intently at the bed-wear for a while, but then he swatted the idea aside. He wouldn't be humiliated by wearing that thing.

He was about to shut the doors, when the opposite side of his conscious spoke to him. He was cold, physically and mentally exhausted, and...dare he say it? Scared? He growled at himself, for thinking such a remark, but then opened the cupboard doors again. Not even a speck of dust on them. Pure white. Never worn before. Shadow cocked his head slightly and sighed through his nose, no-one was going to know he was wearing it anyway. No-one. Right?

Shadow sat in the chair staring into the fireplace. The clothes were comfortable and as smooth as silk. He hated to admit it, but he actually liked them. Not that anyone would _ever_ know that.

He smirked at the thought. But his rare smile was shot down like a fighter plane.

"Btttz...Bttz Bttz, BTTTTZ, Bttz". He looked up above him. The light was flickering slightly. He frowned. He looked over at the light switch on the wall. Off. He hadn't even touched it when he came in. He frowned even more.

"Dong!".

The grandfather clock in the corner of the room struck loudly for it being midnight. Shadow gripped the arms of the chair in surprise and spun around quickly to look at it. It continued to strike though, faster and faster, way past eleven times, it got louder and louder.

Shadow covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. Surely someone would be able to hear this.

The screech was now deafening. Shadow mustered up all of his strength, stood up quickly with his eyes still shut, head pointing towards the ceiling, fists clenched, and roared, "ENOOOOOOUGH!".

As quickly as it had started, the clock ceased.

Shadow looked around breathing heavily, most people would have said he looked angry, but oh no, he felt something extremely different to anger.

He flopped back into the chair, and with one elbow on the armrest, and his hand on his forehead, staring at nothing in particular, he tried to compromise what had just happened within the last few hours.

Another crash from the basement. This time though, louder, nearer, and bigger. Shadow clenched the sides of the chair. The first step creaked loudly from downstairs. Shadow didn't move a muscle, his eyes were almost permanently fixed on the door, with no chance of taking them away any time soon.

The fifth stair eventually creaked. Shadow didn't know what to think at all. He sat in the chair...waiting...just, waiting.

After ten minutes of psychological torture, the 30th stair creaked. Then, footsteps started towards the door. They got closer and closer, before they stopped right outside. Shadow, making the smallest amount of noise possible, stood up slowly, and reached for his left inhibitor ring. No sooner had it made the tiniest inaudible, "Click", the door flew off its hinges with an incredible crash, the locks shattering completely, and the force of the blast sending Shadow flying back off of his feet, and slamming into the chair, which slid all the way across the room, and crashed into the opposite wall with a jolting thud.

Shadow coughed violently as the dust settled, it masked the entrance to the room from view. But then the dust slowly cleared. Shadow coughed once more, and rubbed his eyes to make sure nothing had gotten in them. He then slowly opened his eyes and looked at the remaining door-frame.

He froze.

He took a deep inhale of what was left of the clean oxygen in the room, and let it back out again with a shaking exhale.

He knew he had known that voice. Why hadn't he remembered?

He gripped the arms of the chair, his eyes still fixated on the doorway. His body had seized up completely.

For standing in the wrecked doorframe, of the master bedroom in this mansion...

Was the pale, blue, apparition...

Of _Maria Robotnik._

**Wellllll...What do ya think? Talk about Cliff-hangers! I do realise that some people may disagree with my choice of, "Marley's Ghost", but I felt I had to be a little more original in my choice instead of using Eggman like other telling of this story do. Oh well, I personally think it's quite a nice plot twist, and a nice change for once, but anyway...**

**Also, Chapter 3 will be **_**much**_** shorter than this one, I can tell you that, because Chapter 4 will see the arrival of the first of the three spirits, but we'll worry about that when it comes to it shall we?**

**And so, (And hopefully anyway), the fight for the finishing of Chapter 3 begins!**


	3. Chapter 3:- The Warning

**Oh, my, GOD! Why is it so much harder to right something in a time limit!? Put it this way, if the ghost of Christmas future isn't up by New Year 's Day, I'll do whatever the fifth review on the previous chapter says. Sorry for late upload, sidetracked by other stuff, stuff to do, and another thing, ****What is the point of breaking up from school on the 21****ST**** OF DECEMBER!?****, but, after the 12 tons of fully loaded **_**crap**_** I've had to do in the last few weeks, it should be updated more regularly and more faster after this Friday. Anyway, you might as well ignore the warning last chapter about it being quite short, I mean, yeah it's not as long as Chapter 2 by a long shot, but it's definitely longer than I thought it would be. Also, they should be getting longer after this, where the ghost of Christmas past takes Shadow and who she, [There's a clue! ;)], is anyone's guess, think you know? If you want, just say!, I like people's opinions, **_**If**_**, they want to give them. But anyway, (again), onward with Chapter 3!**

**Chapter 3:- The Warning**

Nothing seemed to happen after the dust had settled.

It was as if the world had just suddenly stopped spinning on the spot.

Shadow's mind flickered with amazement, fear, and confusedness, as if his mind was like one of those old fashioned record players.

But nevertheless, both just stood there, seemingly frozen in time, Shadow staring into the ghost's eyes, while...should he call her Maria? Well, while, "She", stared back at him smiling.

"_Hello Shadow_", she said quietly, smiling slightly more. Her voice had the most minuscule amount of echo in it, but still, it was exactly the same voice that Shadow remembered from more than 50 years ago.

Shadow tried to speak, he opened his mouth slowly, but all that came out was a small choke, before he closed his mouth again, swallowing.

Maria's ghost smiled again.

Shadow slowly stood up, and managed one small, staggering, baby step, before a tear fell down his left cheek.

He opened his mouth again, but this time, a small, high, emotional, "_Maria_".

"_Merry Christmas Shadow_", Maria replied smiling still.

Almost instantly, Shadow's smile of pure joy faltered slightly, and he stared at Maria's ghost, who's smile also dropped slowly.

"_Do you know why I'm here Shadow_?", the blue apparition asked.

Shadow hesitated, before slowly replying, "No...But I have a good idea though", he looked over behind her and saw the shattered doorframe, "And why did you have to do **that**!?".

Maria's ghost sighed, seemingly ignoring the last part, then slowly floated over towards the other chair that usually sat by the fire, but had toppled over during the, "Break-in".

She slowly stood the chair up, and sat down, gesturing for Shadow to sit down as well.

Shadow nodded and pulled the other chair away from the wall, whispering, "damn", under his breath, when he saw the indent it had made in the wooden plastering.

He dragged the chair back to its original place, and sat down, both not saying a word.

"I do hate to use my one spiritual return on such an occasion", Maria eventually said, but I had to warn you.

Shadow's eyes widened slightly. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...What do you mean by, "Spiritual return"?".

"It says it in the name Shadow!", Maria said smiling. A smile almost crept onto Shadow's face, remembering and hearing Maria's voice after all these years, but it was shot down by Maria's face falling.

"But I shouldn't be joking around at a time like this", she continued sadly, "I had to tell you about Grandfathers warning".

"Warning?", Shadow asked suddenly, becoming more alert. "About what?".

Maria sighed again, the sighs sounded like ominous wind blowing every time.

"Well, you're not going to like it when I tell you, but...", she paused. "You...might be...Dying...".

Silence instantly befell both of them.

Maria buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry! I should have told you all those years ago, but I never got a chance!". Blue drops of ectoplasm-like substance, fell through her hands, and melted into the floor.

"Grandfather said", she continued sniffing, lifting her head up, "That there was a glitch when he built you...He said, *Sniff*, that because you were constructed from Black Doom's DNA, and also artificial flesh and materials that were to do with science beyond both of our intelligences, that if you felt every single emotion for the same time for long enough, that it would, *Sniff*, kill you!".

Still no reaction from Shadow.

"He said that it was because your psychological mind was artificial, and therefore, not able to handle certain (but rare) things, because it couldn't be perfected like a natural persons would be, it was part of the reason they wanted you shut down!, because they thought it was pointless for you to try to of survived!"

Shadow stared at Maria, nothing she had said in the last minute seemed to have gone in. Well it had, but Shadow didn't know how to compromise it all into one single thought.

"I can't die". Shadow simply put eventually.

Maria looked up, ghostly tears just about visible on her transparent face.

"I was designed to be immortal, no matter what the danger, physical, _or_ psycho-logical, anyway, what's going to happen, _if_, I die!?".

Maria slowly and sadly pointed to the window, to which to blind flew up, as did the window itself.

Shadow looked at Maria, then over to window again, he stood up, and walked over to it, looking out of it when he made it. What he saw almost made him take a few involuntary steps back out of surprise.

Outside of the mansion, and as far as Shadow could see, apparently all around the city, where pale green ghosts of hundreds of thousands of mobians, they would've been similar to Maria, had they not been so twisted and horribly demented looking. Like the Devils children themselves. Another fact that distinguished them from Maria, was that each of them were wrapped in chains like a Christmas present. Some long, some short, but not all were in chains though. Some had safes and anvils attached to them, groaning as they pulled it along through midair, others were tied to statues, scrambling about to try and get free, you name it, at least one of the ghosts was wearing it.

Shadow stared for what seemed like ages out of the window, gripping the window-sill.

"What happened to these people?", Shadow shakily asked, not turning around to face Maria.

Maria looked at Shadow for a moment, before sadly replying, "They all wear the chain they forged in life...".

Shadow finally turned round. "Excuse me?", he asked, his eyebrow raised.

Maria sighed again. "The chain they made throughout their lives, you know, out of all their bad deeds and sins...".

Shadow shut the window with a loud bang, then shut the blind, then, turned to face Maria again.

"Maria, look, I told you once, and I'll tell you again, no matter what you heard on the ark, _I cannot die_. I scientifically proved myself five years ago, I promise you! I will always be around to live on in your memory."

Maria looked at shadow, her blue eyes glistening with the silver, ectoplasm-like, tears. Then she wiped them clean, and stood up.

"Very well Shadow. Believe what you will. But I have learnt much in fifty years about everything, especially giving the fact that I passed away, and I can tell you that if you, that if you carry on, on your current path, you will end up like them.".

She pointed to the window, to which the blind and window flew up again, re-revealing the spirits.

"I am doing this for your own sake Shadow...". Her voice had begun to echo slightly more now, and Shadow was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable.

"For your own welfare...", she started, "I have alerted three spirits to haunt you...".

She slowly began to slowly float towards Shadow, who backed away slowly in return, ending up back to the wall.

"They will prove to you what I couldn't.". She said, not finished. "You can expect the first tomorrow night when the clock strikes one, the second, when the bell strikes two, on the following night...".

She was now inches from Shadow's face, but then she stopped.

"And the third, on the last night, when the last stroke of twelve ceases to vibrate.".

Shadow didn't know what to do. Arms spread across the wall in panic, breathing heavily through his slightly visible teeth, and his wider than ever, staring at Maria face waaaaaaay to close for comfort near his.

As quickly as her personality had changed, Maria backed away to her starting point, giving Shadow room.

Shadow stood there trying to catch his breath, when he looked up, and saw Maria's silhouette shimmering around the edge.

"My time here is coming to an end...", she said, the echo becoming obvious now, and sounding almost pitiful.

"Look to see me no more, and I promise you...You will thank me...", she finished.

She sounded sad, as if she was sorry she was leaving. But before Shadow could think that, Maria whole form morphed into a small, glowing ball of pure, glowing white light, that floated a few feet off of the ground, lit up the whole room, and appeared to have other glowing lights coming from it.

The ball then quickly accelerated towards Shadow. Before he could react, and passed through his chest and out the other side.

Shadow froze.

He couldn't move. It wasn't pain at all. Just like the ghost of a huge icicle had been shoved through his chest.

Almost as he thought that the ball of light was about to kill him, he was suddenly overcome by such drowsiness, that he staggered, and moved his hand away from his chest, as they both fell to his sides.

His eyes drooped, and he tried to focus on even one thing on the room as he tried to stay upright.

Finally, he couldn't control what his body was doing any longer. He slowly fell to his knees, his eyes about a quarter open, and then fell straight to the floor, unable to put his arms out to stop him, with a crack that would make any normal person cringe.

As the last of his consciousness slowly ebbed away, paralyzed with the sudden tiredness, he made out through his blurred and fading vision, the ball of light, hovering a few feet away, and above him, and just as he finally gave up his pointless resistance to fight, he could swear he heard words that brought it all back to him 57 years ago.

"_Sayonara once again, Shadow the Hedgehog..."._

**YYYYYYYYYYeaaHHHHHHHHH! Jesus that took a lot of effort to write. I know, it might not seem like a lot, but when you know what I have to do every day with homework, and school, and other stuff, it's waaaaaaay different from your school life, (If you go to school some of you). But the ghost of Christmas past should have an update date of Dec 25****th****-Dec 26****th****, or any time sooner. I know, I know, I said it would be done **_**by**_**, Christmas, but with all the stuff going on **_**with**_** Christmas, and school, and breaking up on the twenty ffffffffffffffffrickin first of ffffffffffffffrickin December. Speaking of which, their making us break upon the day the world might end, a day we should be spending with our families!**

**But enough about pointless stuff like that, but on a more serious note, love and thoughts sent out to those families in America who lost their children in the primary school massacre just **_**weeks**_**, before Christmas. Love sent out to everyone, and everyone sends you their love as well, hope you all get through this. Big, hopeful, personal, thumbs up from me. Merry Christmas to you, to your loved ones, and also to those who are reading this. Thank you for reading this whole story so far, and this little section here, for the half-decent people.**

**Anyway, sorry about that, thought I should share my thoughts, but anyway, I should probably end this ending note and get back to homework! XD**

**Onwaaaaaaaaarrrd!, With Chapteeeeeeeeerrr, Foooooooouuuuuuuuuur!.**


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